Inspiration and ideas for my trips comes from various sources. Reputation, word of mouth, striking photos or a timely email all play their part, but there is no doubt that a video from Bentham Golf Club by Liam of Golf Mates had piqued my interest this time. I’m a bit of sucker for hidden gems in out-of the-way locations and Bentham looked just my sort of place.
Even better, when I made enquiries, owner John Marshall kindly offered me a night in one of the excellent pods, which it transpired were set just above the 9th green. I'd played many of the best courses in Cumbria before, and Bentham lies at the point where Cumbria meets Lancashire meets Yorkshire,
It was warm, cosy and very comfortable and, even better, when I played the course next day and ran into a bit of traffic with no-one behind, it formed the perfect personal halfway hut. I stopped for a cheeky cuppa, soaking up the views across to Ingleborough on an unexpectedly fine mid-October morning.
A little piece of heaven
Bentham’s story is intriguing. Golf here dates back to 1922, with the club expanding from nine to 18 holes in the 1990s in a bid to halt the exodus of members to 18-hole courses. Then, in 2009, it switched from members’ club to proprietary set-up.
The Marshall family, owners of the Riverside Caravan Park in the village, saw its potential and started Bentham off on its journey to becoming a stay-and-play venue in this beautiful part of the country. As well as the very competitively priced pods, there are luxury lodges here.
I really loved my short stay, with the course boasting a number of fine holes and those ever-present views across to Ingleborough – one of the Yorkshire Dales’ famous Three Peaks – which you forge straight towards on the up-and-over par-5 2nd and risk-reward 3rd, which is definitely worth having a pop at.
You’ll know all about it after the steep climb to the 7th green, and that 9th hole mentioned earlier is a real toughie as you turn left and cross a stream on the long approach.
Having walked the path across the 11th several times and wondered quite how this hole played, I finally got to find out – it’s a sharp dogleg left to a raised green with two bunkers set into a bank. After this, there are chances to score from 12 to 15, with 16 then a strong par 4 played between trees to a very small green for a 432-yarder.
Up to the Lune Valley
If it was a video that drew me to my first course, the second was the result of a timely email from reader, Roger Whitaker, captain of Casterton Golf Club, with whom I had liaised several times over various Rules issues.
When I realised his club was a mere 20 minutes away, it seemed too good an opportunity, so later that same day we teed off together on this lovely little nine-holer, whose exposed rock outcrops reminded me of Windermere golf course not a million miles further north-west.
The opening par 4 is a tough cookie, playing over a crest then round to the right, with the 2nd playing along a valleyed fairway flanked by some of those outcrops. The 3rd then has one of the most striking tee complexes I’ve played from as you turn back to a green 142 yards away set in a sort of col. Watch out for what must be golf’s original upturned saucer green on 4!
On the short dogleg-left 8th, it was hard to hit it far enough off the tee into a strong breeze to make the apex and get a sight of the green. There is also a lovely par-3 course here that I sadly didn't have time for, and a state-of-the-art Sim Studio.
Chatting afterwards to Roger and owner, Peter Makinson, I was fascinated to learn that the course used to be the home of Kirkby Lonsdale Golf Club before the latter’s move to a new home at Barbon just up the Lune Valley in 1991, which I had played a couple of years earlier.
And a lovely setting it is too, with dry stone walls aplenty and stirring views. The hole I remember most is the par-3 17th, where the Barbon Beck angles across just in front of the green, adding greatly to the challenge.
Bentham
Par 71, 6,071 yards
GF: Mon-Thu: £17.50-25wd; Fri-Sun: £35: Day: £35-£45
Casterton
Par 70, 5,802 yards (twice round)
GF: 9 holes: £15; 18 holes: £24; Day: £38
Kirkby Lonsdale
Par 72, 6,594 yards
GF: Round: £48; Day: £70; Twilight £25
(green fees correct at time of publication in March 2025)
Stay
Bentham Golf Course
High Bentham, Nr Lancaster,
W: benthamgolfcourse.co.uk
